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I dug out a little book that I'd bought a while ago at a book fair: The National Dilemma and the Way Out
It was published in 1975, and co-written by Winnett Boyd, chief designer of the Chinook jet engine and the nuclear reactor at Chalk River. He was also a political activist, first as a Liberal, then as a Progressive Conservative; not liking the direction that Pierre Trudeau was taking the country.
Boyd ran for the PCs in 1972, using the campaign to espouse capitalist values. He lost. The book was his lament over Canada's sharp left turn, seeing little difference between Liberal Pierre Trudeau, PC Robert Stanfield and NDP David Lewis.
We are seeing the same dilemma today, after Canada's sharp right turn. Everyone is competing for the middle, but no one really knows where the middle is; so they just keep inching to the right hoping to fall into it.
I am not a socialist and don't believe that we need to own everything; but do believe that we should be using our natural resources for the benefit of all Canadians.
I also believe that we need to maintain control of institutions like Canada Post, regulatory boards, healthcare and education.
I'm not anti-corporation, but think that far too many tax dollars are going to help their bottom line, and not nearly enough to protect ours.
I believe in freedom, but not the Conservative brand of freedom, which is used as an excuse to blow stuff up. Using the term "mission" and not "war" fools no one. It is just more corporate welfare, because they are the only real winners.
Like Winnett, I started out as a Liberal, but did not leave because of Pierre Trudeau, but rather when the party began adopting neoliberal policies, abandoning Trudeau's goals of a just society.
I liked what I saw as the sensible approach of the PCs toward nation building, and was a huge fan of our local MP in Kingston, Flora MacDonald. I was becoming disillusioned with the party under Mulroney, but stuck it out until their final demise in 2003.
I was never really what you'd call hyper partisan though, appreciating the contributions of Tommy Douglas, David Lewis and Ed Broadbent, and was never more proud then when Jean Chretien kept us out of the Iraq War.
However, I did find myself in 2006, where Boyd was in the early 70s. No major party had what I was looking for. I was disgusted with Adscam and terrified of Stephen Harper, so voted NDP, by default.
After a decade of Stephen Harper and his destructive Neoconservative platform, Canadians are ready for a change.
Anybody But Conservative, or ABC groups are mobilizing and that's good. The sentiment of ABC and Stop Harper campaigns, are important reminders, and will undoubtedly have an impact.
However, strategic voting campaigns, conducted months before the election, only cause confusion and draws attention away from what elections are supposed to be about. Choosing the best party platform and/or leader, to steer our country in the right direction.
Justin Trudeau was right when he rejected the notion of a coalition. For any party to talk coalition in the middle of an election campaign is political suicide, and makes you wonder why they don't trust their own platform enough, that they already believe they will lose.
It also allows Harper to play the victim, a role he plays very well.
During the NDP leadership contest. Thomas Mulcair was chosen because of his claim that the party should avoid specifics of their platform, and instead focus on getting elected. This new aim is evident in their ever changing ideals, even promoting something in one province and then denouncing it in another.
It is also evident with the "pooling" scandal, where they skimmed off public funds, for party purposes. I'm just as disgusted with that as I was with Adscam.
So with roughly 2 1/2 months to go, I will be using my energy to compare platforms, and promote the Liberal Party and Justin Trudeau. By early October, we will have a better picture of voting intentions, so I will throw myself behind any effort to make sure that Stephen Harper and the Conservatives are not re-elected.
I will not be open to coalition talks or election engineering, until it is the time to do so.
In the meantime, I have enough confidence in my party and leader, to believe that we will not need either.
I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, or free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind. John Diefenbaker
On January 6, 1941, Franklin Roosevelt, in his State of the Union Address; put forward four tenets of freedom that every citizen should enjoy:
Freedom of Speech
Freedom of Worship
Freedom from Want
Freedom from Fear
I watched a short Canadian newsreel recently, that would have been shown in movie theatres as propaganda. It was made in 1943, at a time when Canadians were growing weary of war.
Lorne Greene of Bonanza fame, narrated, and started out by showing victorious battle scenes in an attempt to convince the movie goers that we were winning. They just had to hold on a bit longer.
He then repeated those four tenets of freedom, one at a time, with all the passion he could muster.
It was very moving, and they were not just empty promises. On behalf of the Government of Canada, Social Scientist, Leonard Marsh, prepared a report that was presented to a House of Commons committee that year: Report on Social Services for Canada; as part of the plan for post-war reconstruction.
It wasn't enough to just bring soldiers home, They had to come home to a country committed to making that country, not only worth coming home to, but with visible signs of the things they had fought for. Their sacrifices were not in vain and the welfare state was born.
Initially, the term was used to describe an industrial capitalist society, in which the state manipulated the market, but in 1967, British historian Asa Briggs, in The Welfare State, laid out revised provisions of what the welfare state should look like:
- Provision of minimum income
- Provision for the reduction of economic insecurity, resulting from sickness, old age and unemployment
- Provision to all members of society a range of social services
Not just the freedom from want but the freedom from need. If we were expected to make sacrifices during wartime, we needed to be taken care of at times of peace.
Then in the 1980s, Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, turned the whole thing upside down. Forget all that. There was no such thing as society and no need for social services. Give more money to the wealthy and the resulting economic boost would trickle down to everyone.
The corporate welfare state was reborn.
Conservatives will take every opportunity to use the word "freedom", but clearly have no idea what it means. Chest thumping and carnivorous nationalism is not freedom.
Instead of freedom from want, they leave society wanting, and use fear, attacks on religious groups and stifling of free speech, so they can have us participate in perpetual war.
Photo-ops with soldiers, first responders, or anyone in uniform, might make you look good, but you can't remove them from the picture once the cameras are turned off.
Those who risk their lives for us, deserve better. Indeed, all Canadians do.
Our hopes are high. Our faith in the people is great. Our courage is strong. And our dreams for this beautiful country will never die. Pierre Trudeau
This election campaign, we're hearing a lot about the middle class. There's no denying that a strong middle class is tantamount to economic security. However, even with a strong middle class, there was still poverty.
There was still want.
Instead of a higher minimum wage, that will only force small businesses out, we need a living wage guarantee for everyone. We need a strong social safety net, that includes a housing strategy, so terms like "homelessness" and "food banks" are removed from everyday conversation.
Courage, my friends; 'tis not too late to build a better world. Tommy Douglas
George Bush referring to corporations as "job creators" is a myth. Corporations only create jobs when it's convenient to do so, and will shed jobs anytime they threaten their bottom line (as we're seeing now in Alberta). And despite the fact that the public has subsidized these corporations for years, shareholders take priority over stakeholders.
Enough is enough.
A recent Nanos poll indicates that 2/3 of Canadians are ready for a change. It's up to us to make sure that that change, is not simply more of the same.
If a picture speaks to us, the image of the crest above is speaking volumes. It's not only a reminder of what freedom was supposed to look like, but also a reminder that we are failing our heroes and heroines.
Patriotism is not dying for one's country, it is living for one's country, and for humanity. Perhaps that is not as romantic, but it's better. Agnes MacPhail
